16-Days Congo River Tour - To Kisangani.
This Congo River tour will give you the very undiscovered Congo experience will take you to majestic Congo River from the city of Lisala to Kisangani with this trek taking in remote villages, some of the country’s dominant historical sights, rain forests and the top-notch bit is meeting the locals.
Encounter the different sights on this Dr Congo tour and sounds of the bona fide Africa as you travel through one of the most remote places.
Travel here is by our river cruiser, an 18-metre-long boat made out of wood equipped with two powerful outboard engines.
The boat is further fitted out with safety equipment, sanitary installation, a generator, lighting and freezers. The boat operation is done by a licensed and experienced captain, mechanic and sailor. A cook and tourist guide are present throughout the trip.
Evenings and nights are spent ashore, enabling cultural exchanges with the incredible locals. This is an unforgettable journey through one of the world’s virgin lands and therefore making it the essence of adventure for us and we are so proud and excited to deliver this iconic Congo River tour to our clients.
Congo River Tour Experience Notes
- Although our main intention is to adhere to adhere to the planned day by day itinerary below, a degree of flexibility is always built in. overnight stops may vary from those suggested and occasionally alternative accommodation to the one mentioned below will be used.
- Our guides are local Africans and very competent, chosen carefully for their knowledge and
passionate about places they call home. All of our guides are carefully hand picked and are locals born and bred from within.
Congo River Tour Itinerary
Arrival in Congo Kinshasa, capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo for your Congo River tour (DRC) and transfer to hotel. Accommodation overnight will be at the Beatitude hotel.
Day 2- Kinshasa city tour.
After the luscious breakfast, a visit to the wonderful ‘’Lola ya Bonobo” chimpanzee project which means paradise of bonobos just beyond Kinshasa’s southern suburbs. Later, in Kinshasa we explore
the districts, markets and buildings that characterise one of Africa’s fascinating mega cities.
Formerly referred to as ‘’Kin La Belle’ meaning beautiful Kinshasa, many years of turmoil have tarnished the city’s image though slowly Kinshasa is striving to regain its splendour.
Leopoldville as it was known is
so huge and some say this ville is the largest leading francophone city worldwide, winning over Paris.
From its modest birth as a tiny village Nshasa, it was discovered by Stanley as a major base for the
development of the Congo free state and with this helped attract both European and Congolese settlers, expanding quickly to become a goliath among African cities. Although Kinshasa has seen
many inconveniences in the past years, it never ever lost its position as a cultural hub of central Africa hatching the renowned Congolese Rumba sounds which remain popularly recognized
everywhere today.
One of the most outstanding acts of this city in the 1960’s was it hosting the famous rumble in the jungle boxing match between Mohammed Ali and George Foreman, one of the biggest sporting events in Africa there ever was down history lanes.
Positioned on the banks of river Congo, it faces the capital of the Republic of Congo, Brazaville, which is uniquely situated for a capital city. Kinshasa is still regaining and mending from its chequered past in the 21 st century with infrastructures blooming and investments booming with
return of investors.
This city is a bit very hectic, intimidating and brash for starers/ on lookers therefore for you to understand the hidden gems and history of this wonderful state, you got to visit to see and believe.
Overnight at Hotel Beatitude.
Lola Ya Bonobo tour.
Bonobos are primate species found exclusively in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
They are endangered species and it is thought that as few as 20000 individuals may be existent in the wild.
Lola Ya Banobo or friends of Banobo project rescues and rehabilitates injured Bonobos affected by the uncontrollable
poaching and the bush meat lucrative trade.
Up to 60 Bonobos are accommodated here in 75 acres of primary tropical forest. The aim of the
project is to release some of the animals back to the wild. This pretty sanctuary also has award winning educational program with around 10000 visitors each year, raising crucial awareness of the
plight of these apes and the pressing need to ensure their future presence.
Day 3- Kinshasa to Lisala.
After the tasty breakfast, we fly to Lisala capital of Deit’s Mongala province and birth town of Mobutu Sese Seko, former president of Zaire from 1965 to 1997. A lot has been published about Mobutu’s cruelty and despotic rule. We spend the night in the city ready for set off in the wee hours of morning en route Kisangani.
Overnight tented camp
Day 4 to 13- Congo River Tour
From Lisala, the approximated journey time upriver to Kisangani is 10 nights. We pass through a very
large area without airports or roads. The river is the only lifeline communities we visit along the way.
Observing how the locals go about their daily lives, buying and selling merchandise from small boats that cross the Congo River is one of the journey highlights. The people we come across have less , if any, contact with the outside world and certainly no idea what tourism tourism is.
Authentic spontaneous encounters make this unique journey a must for intrepid travelers. There are
very few places of the earth where this one of a kind experience is possible. Highlights for this
voyage include Bumba where river Congo is at is widest, some 20kilometres across and full of the
weed, water hyacinth.
Almost nearer to Kisangani,we move through Yangambi an important biosphere reserve which hosts
about 32000 tree species as well as wildlife such as monkeys, river hogs and elephants.
Our boat is a 34-meter-long wooden vessel with an engine. Even though it has a traditional design, it has full safety onboard equipment, toilet facilities, a generator, lighting, and freezers for food and drinks, as well as an English speaking guide and a cook who are part of the journey.
Each night is spent near a village or ashore, where fresh produce for dinner preparations and a good setup for the tented camps is purchased. Tents small mattresses, cotton mattress covers, and pillows are available. Travelers should bring their own sleeping bag, sheets, towels, and toiletries.
Congo River
Congo rivers greatest geographical claim to fame comes from its superlative position in relation to the Congo rainforest. The waterway serves as a key drainage channel for the tropical jungle. Its length measures a little over 3000 miles into the Atlantic Ocean. What’s more, it’s considered one of the earth’s biggest containers of water.
Day 14 Kisangani
This place started as a trading station after being named StanleyVille by a journalist and also being “discovered” by adventurer Henry Morton Stanley in 1877 who established it on behalf of King Leopold during his exploration. Kisangani is over 2000 kms upstream on the Congo River from its mouth on the Atlantic coast.
During the previous golden jubilee, the city experienced more than its fair share of problems, along with being captured by Simba rebels during the Congo crisis in the 1960s and being a witness to the war that gripped the DRC in the 1990s. Thankfully, Kisangani’s half-million inhabitants are trying to restore today.
Kisangani to Kinshasa, Day 15.
As the saying goes, not all good things come to an end since these memories stay with us as we remember, so after such a wonderful adventure, this trip finale may be hard to reconcile.
Transfer towards the airport in Kisangani for your flight to Kinshasa. Its possible to check out the city on a Kinshasa city tour
Day 16: End of the Congo River Tour
Return to Kinshasa in time for your departure flight.
You can extend this Congo River Tour to include hiking the Rwenzori Mountains in Eastern Congo or gorilla trekking in Uganda, Congo or Rwanda
